Two unforgettable weeks

The last two weeks have been very exciting. Two speed events
have taken place, in Lake Louise and Aspen, and my teammates and I are off to a
great start. Jan Hudec started the men’s downhill in Lake Louise with his first
World Cup win ever. The following Saturday in Lake Louise I had a third place
finish, and then just last weekend had my first World Cup win ever in Aspen.

Wow, pretty amazing. Let me share with you all that goes on
around the results and a little bit about what it has felt like.

Two weeks ago at Lake Louise I stepped onto the podium for my
first time with a third place finish. It was amazing. I have been on the
Canadian Alpine Ski Team for 10 years now, I’ve had ups and downs, and it has
all been worth it. My run down the course in Lake Louise was so much fun
— I had come off my training run from the day before feeling pretty
confident about how I was skiing the course and had just a few things that I
wanted to touch up on for the race day. Most important on race day is trusting
what you know of the course and sticking with the game plan. The morning of the
race I woke up and was excited, even though it was -28 degrees outside.

I was in the start gate and all I could think was “let me onto
the course”. I felt relaxed, but at the same time energized and ready to push
out of the gate.

In the downhill I have been working a lot on keeping my feet
relaxed in my boots. I find this really helps me to keep my skis running, which
in turn lets you go faster. It is important to be over your downhill ski, but
you don’t want to be too hard on your edges because the skis need to be running
smooth on the snow. I can do this by relaxing my feet. On colder days it’s even
more important to get your skis running because the snow has that much more
grip to it.

My run was going well and I felt that I was executing the line
just as I had seen it in my mind, while at the same time focusing on letting my
skis run. Towards the bottom of the course, however, all I could think about was
how cold my face was. I was going numb. The last stretch to the finish was
flat, sitting in a tuck, and I just wanted to put my hands over my face to
protect it.